Inter-Cell Fractional Frequency Reuse Scheduler

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are disclosed to address inter-cell interference in a heterogeneous network. In one embodiment, a system is disclosed, comprising: a coordinating node situated between a radio access network and a core network; and a first base station in the radio access network in communication with the coordinating node, wherein: the coordinating node has a coordinating scheduler with a first scheduling period; the first base station has a first base station scheduler with a second scheduling period shorter than the first scheduling period; the coordinating scheduler is configured to send a resource reservation list and a resource restriction list to the first base station scheduler once during each first scheduling period; and the first base station is configured to receive the resource reservation list and the resource restriction list and to use the resource reservation list and the resource restriction list when performing mobile device resource scheduling.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority according to 35 USC§119(e) of both U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/278,319,filed Jan. 13, 2016, and No. 62/343,963, filed Jun. 1, 2016, each havingthe title “Inter-Cell Fractional Frequency Reuse Scheduler,” and herebyincorporates both of these applications by reference in their entiretyfor all purposes. Additionally, this application incorporates byreference in their entirety each of the following applications: U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/037,982, having attorney docketno. PWS-71771U500, filed Aug. 15, 2014, and entitled “Inter-CellInterference Mitigation”; No. 62/166,401, having attorney docket no.PWS-71829U500, filed May 26, 2015, and entitled “Inter-Cell InterferenceCoordination”; and U.S. Pat. App. Pub. Nos. US20140086120,US20140092765, US20140133456, US20150045063, and US20150078167.Additionally, 3GPP TS 36.331 and TS 36.213 are hereby incorporated byreference in their entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

In cellular radio networks, a base station is needed to be placed ineach region that requires coverage. Prior deployment strategies assumeda regular cell topology, resulting in the emplacement of radio basestations according to a strict geometric pattern. However, in real-worlddeployments, identically-sized cells are ill-suited to providingeffective coverage because of topological features (i.e., mountains,hills, highways, etc.), and because of varying population densitypatterns, among other reasons.

To handle these varying characteristics, strategies involving multiplecell sizes in a heterogeneous network, or hetnet, have been proposed.For example, a traditional macro cell base station may be used to covera relatively large area, but may be supplemented in an area of increasedpopulation density by a cell with a smaller coverage area. Such cellsare variously called femto cells, pico cells, micro cells, orgenerically, small cells. The term femto cell is used in this disclosureto refer to one or more of these various types of cells.

However, integration of these base stations of various sizes causesinterference between cells. This is particularly true because femtocells are often placed in a location that overlaps substantially orcompletely with the coverage area of a macro cell, e.g., in overlay orunderlay coverage patterns. When a macro cell coverage area overlapscompletely with a femto cell coverage area, without mitigationtechniques, the femto cell base station and the macro cell base stationnecessarily ends up competing for radio resources and reducing theeffectiveness of attached mobile nodes via inter-cell interference.

Additional challenges with small cell deployments include: little or noRF planning; cell coverage areas that are not well-defined or that donot conform to a standard circular or hexagonal cell shape; therequirement to coexist with existing macro cells; small radius for smallcells, making soft frequency reuse less than straightforward; and thenecessity of central coordination when using UE-centric resourceallocation.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods may be disclosed to address the problem ofinter-cell interference in a heterogeneous network.

In one embodiment, a system is disclosed, comprising: a coordinatingnode situated between a radio access network and a core network; and afirst base station in the radio access network in communication with thecoordinating node, wherein: the coordinating node has a coordinatingscheduler with a first scheduling period; the first base station has afirst base station scheduler with a second scheduling period shorterthan the first scheduling period; the coordinating scheduler isconfigured to send a resource reservation list and a resourcerestriction list to the first base station scheduler once during eachfirst scheduling period; and the first base station is configured toreceive the resource reservation list and the resource restriction listand to use the resource reservation list and the resource restrictionlist when performing mobile device resource scheduling.

The resource reservation list and the resource restriction list may eachbe bitmaps of one byte per physical resource block (PRB). The resourcerestriction list may be a set of values indicating an interference levelfor each of a set of PRBs. The coordinating node may be configured tomaintain an interference zone comprising a set of base stations. Theresource restriction list may be pushed to each base station in the sameinterference zone. The coordinating node may be configured to assessinterference based on received measurement reports from mobile devices.The coordinating scheduler and the first base station scheduler may beconfigured to exchange scheduling information for UEs deemed to be celledge UEs, based on one or more values of reference signal received power(RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), cell quality indicator(CQI), and signal to noise ratio (SINR). The first scheduling period maybe between 5 and 30 milliseconds and the second scheduling period may be1 millisecond. The coordinating node may be in communication with amacro cell regarding resource allocation and scheduling over an X2interface.

A second base station in the radio access network may also be present inthe system and may be in communication with the coordinating node andmay have its own scheduler. The first and second base stations may beLong Term Evolution (LTE) eNodeBs. The coordinating node may have an X2interface connection to the first and second base stations forperforming coordination between schedulers. The first base station maysend a resource reservation to the coordinating node based oncoordination activity performed with the second base station. Thecoordinating scheduler may be configured to: receive a resourcereservation request from the first base station; add a correspondingresource reservation to the resource reservation list; and add acorresponding resource restriction to a second resource restriction listto be sent to the second base station. The coordinating scheduler may beconfigured to send a reduce transmit power instruction to the secondbase station based on the resource reservation list. The first basestation scheduler may be configured to avoid use of resources identifiedin the resource restriction list. The first and second base stations maybe multi-radio access technology (multi-RAT) base stations having two ormore of the following radio access capabilities: 2G; 3G; LTE; and Wi-Fi.

In another embodiment, a method is disclosed, comprising: creating areservation for a resource enabling use of the resource at a first basestation for a set of mobile devices; and requiring creation of a pairedrestriction for the resource disabling use of the resource at a secondbase station, the second base station being a neighbor of the first basestation, thereby enabling the second base station to avoid interferingwith use of the reserved resource by the first base station.

Creating a reservation and requiring creation of a paired restrictionmay occur at a coordinating node. The resource may be a physical radioresource or a scheduling slot. The resource may be either a 2G, 3G, 4G,or 5G radio carrier resource. The paired restriction may be a limit onthe radio frequency (RF) power that is transmitted on a physical radioresource or in a scheduling slot. The coordinating node may be a radionetwork controlling node situated in communication with a radio accessnetwork and with a core network. The coordinating node may be a radionetwork controlling node providing virtualization of radio accessnetwork nodes. The first and second base stations may be Long TermEvolution (LTE) eNodeBs and the set of mobile devices may be either aset of universal mobile telecommunications service (UMTS) userequipments (UEs) or a set of LTE UEs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a cellular deployment scenario showingcell edge and cell center frequency sharing, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary radio access networktopology, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a system architecture diagram showing an interferencecoordination system, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of call edge and call center regionsacross two base stations, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of four base stations, in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a further system architecture diagram showing an interferencecoordination system, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing time periods in operation of ascheduling process, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of frequency allocation, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an enhanced eNodeB, in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a coordinating node, in accordancewith some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

To address the problem of inter-cell interference in a heterogeneousnetwork, several methods and systems are disclosed for determininginterference caused by an aggressor mobile node, and transmitting atappropriate times and with transmit power that does not causeinterference. Techniques are described for fractional frequency reuse(FFR) and other types of inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC). Inparticular, interference is reduced for users at the edge of a basestation's coverage region (called cell edge users). Interference in agiven cell is reduced by coordination of potentially interferingtransmissions from a base station in another cell. A centralizedscheduler is used in conjunction with a scheduler at each individualbase station to provide FFR.

Frequency reuse is fundamental to cellular technology and involvesmultiple transmitting stations using the same frequency simultaneously.Ordinarily, reuse is performed on the cell level, such that the samefrequencies are available for use in other cells. However, with ICIC, adesignated frequency band may be subdivided into multiple portions, someportions of which are available for use in other cells while otherportions are not. This is called fractional frequency reuse (FFR).

FIG. 1 visually illustrates the reuse of frequencies in a FFR scheme.FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a cellular deployment scenario showingcell edge and cell center frequency sharing, in accordance with someembodiments. Coverage diagram 101 shows a scenario where frequency fl isshared among all the cells shown, and is used in the cell center of eachcell. This is shown in bandwidth and power diagram 102, where frequencyf1 is shown as in use by cell 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c, while cell 102 auses frequency f2, cell 102 b uses frequency f3, and cell 102 c usesfrequency f4 for cell edge users. This does not scale well to aheterogeneous network, however, since a macro overlay network that usesfrequency f1 for its cell center will make it difficult for smallerunderlay cells to use frequency f1.

Coverage diagram 103 shows a scenario where each cell uses threefrequencies, some combination of f1, f2, and f3. For any two neighboringcells, two of the three frequencies is used in the cell center, and athird frequency is used in the cell edge. The frequencies in the cellcenter are marked in the diagram as f1, f2, or f3, and the thirdfrequency is indicated by the type of hatching used in the diagram.Bandwidth and power diagram 104 shows that, for any given cell, twofrequencies are used at a lower power in the cell center and the thirdfrequency is used at a higher power in the cell edge. In cell 104 a,frequency f3 is used in the cell edge, while in cell 104 b, frequency f2is used in the cell edge, and in cell 104 c, frequency f1 is used in thecell edge. As is evident from coverage diagram 103, no two adjacentcells use the same frequency for the cell edge, enabling effectivecoverage and handover in the region between any given pair of cells.

In a scenario commonly referred to as Soft Frequency Reuse, one suchportion is used in a particular cell, and other cells may still use saidportion but at limited RF power. Typically, a portion of the frequencyis allocated to cell edge users in one cell and reused in neighboringcells for cell center users at a lower power. Since cell center usersare close to the transmitting station, the power-restricted portion ofthe frequency can be effectively used to serve such users even whiletransmitting at a reduced power level. FIG. 1 shows examples of softfrequency reuse.

When the reservation of such frequency resources changes with time, wehave dynamic FFR as opposed to static FFR where reservations are set upfor long periods of time. This application describes at least a DynamicSoft FFR scheme below.

In some embodiments, interfering cells may be called aggressors, and thecells being interfered with may be called victim cells. A user equipment(UE) that causes interference may be called an aggressor, and a UE thatis subject to interference may be called a victim.

In some embodiments described below, the term “cell edge user” isunderstood more generally to mean a user that is experiencinginterference above a certain threshold, not a user that is necessarilylocated in any particular physical coverage zone, and the term “cellcenter user” is understood to mean a user that is experiencinginterference only below the certain threshold. Fractional frequencyreuse (FFR) methods are described herein that use this definition ofcell edge user and cell center user. FFR refers to the re-use of only afraction (f<1) of the total available frequencies, hence the name.

When the interfering resources are forbidden from being used in theneighboring cells, we have Hard Fractional Frequency Reuse. When suchfrequency resources are used in neighbor cells in a manner that does notcause degrading interference to the said UEs, we have Soft FrequencyReuse. In a typical scenario, a UE is attached to and receives data fromone base station (which is the aggressor node), which generatesinterference on the downlink band for UEs attached to one or moreneighboring base stations (victim nodes). Interference commonly occursat the cell edge, not at the cell center, because at the cell center,the reduced distance to the base station provides a greater signal tonoise ratio. It follows that the frequencies and time slots associatedwith the cell center are readily able to be reused, while frequenciesand time slots associated with the cell edge are not reused but insteadare reserved.

In some embodiments, an aggressor base station and a victim base stationmay each be in communication with a cloud coordination server, and thesignal strength information for neighboring base stations may be sharedamong multiple eNodeBs, either via the cloud coordination server ordirectly using a mesh network connection or inter-eNodeB connection. Bycoordinating transmissions among multiple eNodeBs, interference may bereduced in one area without causing greater interference in anotherarea.

A method is described herein for providing such coordination. Two keyconcepts are used, in some embodiments. Firstly, a reservation of aresource, such as a physical radio resource or scheduling slot, isenabled to be performed for a particular UE at a particular basestation. Secondly, to avoid interfering with the reserved resource, eachreservation is created with a corresponding restriction of use of thereserved resource in all neighboring base stations. Paired creation of areservation and restriction is facilitated at a central coordinationserver.

In some embodiments, a coordinating node situated between the radioaccess network and the core network may be coupled with each of a firstand a second base station, which may be LTE base stations (eNodeBs), andwhich may also be equipped with additional wireless capability, such asWi-Fi backhaul and/or access capability. More base stations may bepresent, in some embodiments. The coordinating node may have an X2interface connection to each base station. The coordinating node may bea heterogeneous network gateway, and may provide X2 and 51 proxying andbrokering services for a plurality of connected eNodeBs, such that thehetnet gateway provides access to the core network for a plurality ofconnected eNodeBs. The coordinating node may thus be in the data pathbetween the connected eNodeBs and the core network.

In some embodiments, the connected eNodeBs may be multi-radio accesstechnology, heterogeneous network eNodeBs. The connected eNodeBs may bemobile eNodeBs with integrated wireless backhaul, including LTEprotocol-based or Wi-Fi wireless backhaul. The connected eNodeBs mayinteroperate with each other to form a wireless mesh network, which maybe used for backhaul or for access. The connected eNodeBs maycommunicate with each other and/or the coordinating node using the X2protocol.

As the individual connected eNodeBs are situated very close to the UEs,they are therefore well-suited to performing scheduling of theirindividual communications, which requires that a scheduler providescheduling information within the tight latency budget of 1 transporttime interval (TTI), i.e., every 1 millisecond. However, by virtue ofits position between the radio access network and the core network, thecoordinating node is well-suited to communicating with other connectedeNodeBs as well as any macro base stations with the X2 protocol. Thecoordinating node is thus able to achieve a more comprehensive view ofthe network, a “God's eye view,” from which it is possible to identifyoptimizations across multiple base stations. These optimizations may beshared to the individual base stations within a latency budget in thetens of milliseconds, for example, roughly 20 milliseconds. These twotypes of optimization can be combined to produce a system in which twoschedulers cooperate to provide improved interference cancellation.

In some embodiments, the coordinating node may send decision lists ormessages that include a list of reservations and a list of restrictions.The list of reservations includes a list of resources that have beenallocated to particular cell edge UEs. The list of restrictions includesa list of resources that have been interdicted or should be avoided.Each reservation may result in a corresponding restriction in a set ofneighboring cells.

In some embodiments, a concept of overbooking may be provided. Cell edgeUEs may be required to be allocated within resources or resource blocksassigned by the central scheduler. Other UEs may be assigned unallocatedresources or resource blocks of a target UE, but the target UE may notbe assigned resources outside of its specific allocation.

In some embodiments, the coordinating node may determine the order inwhich to perform allocations. Different orderings of base stations orUEs may result in different outcomes. In some cases, parallel orconcurrent allocations may be performed; in some cases, sets of UEs andbase stations may be created to partition the decision space. In someembodiments, random ordering may be used for UE or base stationallocations.

In some embodiments, a macro cell may be treated differently than asmall cell. In some embodiments, small cells may adapt to macrointerference patterns.

In some embodiments, small cells may negotiate with each other to assignresources.

In some embodiments, certain parameters may be configured by a networkoperator, such as a maximum number of resource blocks per UE or apercentage of resources to be assigned to all cell edge users inaggregate.

In some embodiments, the coordinating node may pass these messages alongand/or proxy them as necessary. In some embodiments, the coordinatingnode may be able to request measurement reports from one or more UEs. Insome embodiments, since the coordinating node is in the data path,active flows may be sniffed to further improve interference mitigationand cancellation. Alternately, in some embodiments, the coordinatingnode may not make allocation decisions, and may instead provide asimpler function, namely, aggregate resource restriction lists frommultiple cells and distribute the aggregated lists to the multiplecells.

Further information is provided regarding the coordinating nodeperforming allocation decisions. In some embodiments, the coordinatingnode may run an algorithm and decide what is best for each base station,in some cases attempting to enable each base station to get a fairamount of throughput and/or ensure that its cell edge UEs get adequatethroughput and delay performance. The coordinating node may also sendback information guiding each base station, so that each base stationcan schedule at its node such that there may be less error rate andincreased performance for the cell edge user. The coordinating node isin a good position to enable fairness across the entire network, forexample, by ensuring that base stations are not penalized for theirneighbors' interfering behavior by instructing the interfering basestations directly to reduce their power output. This is particularlyimportant in a macro-femto deployment pattern of underlay coverage,where a macro cell and femto cell have overlapping coverage areas.

However, the base station itself has significant advantages in reactingto transient radio frequency interference. Base stations performscheduling every 1 transport time interval (TTI), or every 1 millisecondaccording to the LTE standard. Having a scheduler on the base stationallows all UEs to react within 1 TTI to any source of interference,without having to wait for a coordinating node to perform schedulingwith a latency of, for example, 5-30 ms.

It follows that a decentralized architecture, where scheduling isdivided between the base station and the centralized node, combines bothadvantages. The present disclosure explains how such a system may berealized with coordination between the base station and centralized nodeschedulers.

In some embodiments, the schedulers at the coordinating node and theindividual connected eNodeBs communicate. These communications may be inthe form of hints or scheduling instructions sent from the coordinatingnode to the individual eNodeBs. These communications may also be in theform of measurement reports received at the base stations and forwardedto the coordinating node, to allow the coordinating node to understandthe radio environment from the perspective of the base station.

These communications can be sent using the X2 protocol, either usingprivate information entities (IEs) or messages already defined in theprotocol according to 3GPP TS 36.423 X2AP, hereby incorporated in itsentirety by reference.

In some embodiments, up to four different types of communications arecontemplated. First, a bitmap of one byte per downlink physical resourceblock (DL PRB) indicating an appropriate restriction level for each PRBcan be sent from the coordinating node to the base stations, to instructthem not to use certain resource blocks. Values from 0 to 255 may beused to represent how much each PRB should be restricted.

Second, a corresponding bitmap for uplink PRBs (UL PRB) with one byteper UL PRB may be sent from the coordinating node.

Third, a per-UE interference indication message may be sent from eachbase station to the coordinating node. This message may be in atype-length-value (TLV) format, in some embodiments. The per-UEinterference indication may include information such as the number ofUEs connected to the base station (in the RRC Connected mode), thenumber of connected and active UEs, and additional information for eachUE deemed to be at the cell edge, such as: an array of interferers, withevolved cell global identifiers (ECGIs) and interference levels; anarray of cell quality indicators (CQIs) for each sub-band; an array ofsounding reference symbol (SRS) signal-to-noise ratios (SINRs) for eachsub-band; values indicating a required level of throughput for downlink,uplink, or both; a pair of values for required throughput for guaranteedbit rate (GBR) and non-GBR on uplink, downlink, or both; a UE priority;or other values.

Fourth, a message which may be in TLV format may be sent from thecoordinating node to each base station with a list of resource blocks toavoid. These may be in the form of downlink and uplink resource blocklists to avoid in bitmaps, or in the form of arrays of interferencelevels per block, with the base station to avoid blocks with high levelsof interference, or in the form of a set of downlink and uplink resourceblock allocation bitmaps per UE, or system frame numbers (SFNs)corresponding to time slots to avoid, or some combination thereof. Insome embodiments, the same restriction is pushed to all base stations ina particular set of base stations, called an interference zone.Interference zones may reduce communications overhead, as well as timerequired to compute the appropriate reservations and restrictions.

In some embodiments, UEs may be configured to send measurement reportsto the coordinating node. Measurement reports are what enable thenetwork to act responsively to interference. While only a base stationcan react quickly to interference within 1 TTI, the coordinating nodemay receive a continuously updated stream of measurement informationthat allows it to react to sources of interference within a relativelyshort time of, for example, 20-30 milliseconds.

In some embodiments, UE measurement reports may be configured usingstandard messages as defined in 3GPP TS 36.331, the LTE radio resourcecontrol protocol specification, hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety for all purposes. In some embodiments, UEs may be configured tosend both periodic and event-triggered measurement reports, withevent-triggered reports being requested whenever a neighbor cell becomesbetter than a defined threshold (type A4).

In some embodiments, scheduling information may be exchanged only forUEs deemed to be cell edge UEs. Cell edge UEs may be determined asfollows. For each UE, if the reference signal received power (RSRP) ofthe UE's strongest neighbor is not greater than a minimum neighborinterference threshold, this UE is not a cell edge UE. If this value isgreater than the threshold, the UE is a cell edge UE. Another radioquality metric may be used in place of RSRP, such as reference signalreceived quality (RSRQ), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), orsignal to noise ratio (SINR), or a signal quality metric derived fromone of these.

Once a cell edge UE is identified, its interferers are found. In UEmeasurement reports received from the base station, which may beperiodic or event-triggered (A4) UE measurement reports, aneighbor-specific interference metric may be computed for each neighbor,starting with the strongest. This metric may be computed as (RSRP ofneighbor A)/(RSRPserv). If this metric exceeds a minimum interferencemetric threshold, the neighbor is an interferer.

In operation, the coordinating node may be configured with one or morevalues, such as a maximum percentage of cell edge resources per basestation (i.e., a percentage of all resources at a base station that maybe used by the cell edge and not the cell center, which may affect theresilience of the base station under heavy interference conditions); amaximum percentage of cell edge resources that may be allocated to asingle cell edge UE; and a periodicity for each full run of thecoordinating node ICIC/FFR scheduler.

As the operation of the coordinating node ICIC/FFR scheduler depends onthe reports sent by the base station, these reports are next described.

Reporting at the base station is handled as follows, in someembodiments. Each base station is configured to send configurationmessages to attached UEs to request periodic neighbor measurementreporting, as well as A4 event-based measurement reporting, i.e., when aneighbor's signal becomes better than a threshold, as per 3GPP TS36.331, hereby incorporated in its entirety, and in particular §5.5.4.5).

In some embodiments, each base station is configured to sendconfiguration messages to attached UEs to report CQI aperiodically.Aperiodic configured sub-band reporting may be performed for all UEs atintervals, for example every 60 seconds. By collecting CQI informationfor all sub-bands, downlink channel quality per sub-band is determined.From this information, CQI is computed per PRB by simply assigning thecorresponding sub-band CQI to the CQI of the PRB.

In some embodiments, on the uplink, sounding reference signal (SRS)signal-to-noise ratio (SINR) is computed per physical resource block(PRB).

The base station may prepare an X2 message for the coordinating node.Each message may include a per-UE message element as described above.The per-UE message element may be computed as follows, in someembodiments.

First, for each interferer, quantize a neighbor-specific interferencemetric for the UE into N levels, e.g., Severe, High, Moderate & Low.This will find its way into the message field: Interference Level. Next,for each such UE, prepare the per sub-band CQI and SRS SINR array. Toreduce processing burden at the coordinating node, the DL and UL persub-band channel quality indications may be sorted, and the sorted arrayindices list may be sent to the coordinating node, which can now findthe best PRBs to assign by traversing the sorted array indices listsequentially because the arrays are in order by available PRB. Finally,for each such UE, send the GBR (guaranteed bit rate) DL and ULthroughput requirements.

The base station may collect the per-UE data whenever the reports occur,and the collected per-UE data shall be sent to the coordinating nodeperiodically, such as once every 10 s. It is possible that in some 10 speriods, there are no UEs that had interferers. In such cases, there maybe no reports sent. Note that all UEs report every minute. However, thecoordinating node receives a bundle of UE reports at once. This providesa snapshot of the radio environment without the overhead of sending amessage every time the base station receives a message. Messagesreceived at the coordinating node may or may not expire, in someembodiments.

The reports received at the base station are summarized in a periodicreporting message sent to the coordinating node, with data on each UEand PRB, etc., as described above. Alternately, some or all of thereporting messages received from UEs may be sent to the coordinatingnode, in some embodiments.

The operation of the scheduler at the base station occurs as follows, insome embodiments. With the assistance of the coordinating node FFR/ICICmodule, the base station scheduler may allocate frequency resources toUEs as follows.

(a) Cell edge UEs may be allocated resources from the list of resourcesearmarked for each UE, with cell edge UEs being scheduled before cellcenter UEs are scheduled in any given TTI. Among these earmarkedresources, unutilized resources may be allocated to cell center UEs butnot to cell edge UEs. These decisions may be received from thecoordinating node. These procedures may be followed for both uplink anddownlink.

(b) In both the DL and UL channels, cell center UEs may use anyresources but must respect the resource restriction list bitmap sentfrom the coordinating node, in that the marked PRBs must be avoided orused with low transmit power. This may be controlled by the use of P_A,P_B parameters.

The scheduler may use various techniques to achieve lower power, such asclosed loop power control; and the use of only QPSK modulation or 16-QAMmodulation, based on interference level, for low-bitrate traffic such asVoIP, so that a low delta-tf (what is this?) is used in transmissions.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary radio access network topology for a wirelessnetwork, in accordance with some embodiments. In diagram 200, UEs 207,208, 209 connect to the radio access network via small cells 203 and204. Small cell 204 has coverage area 205. Small cell 203 has coveragearea 206. Small cells 203 and 204 are connected to gateway 202, whichprovides the small cells with coordination and also providesconnectivity to core network 201. Small cell 204 is shown with asecondary wireless backhaul connection. Gateway 202 may besimultaneously providing radio access network (RAN) virtualizationfunctionality toward core network 201. The radio access network includesseveral small cells that communicate their level of interference andneighbor reports to a coordinating node, which in turn sends schedulinginstructions to the small cells. In some embodiments, a combination ofmacro cells and small cells, or a set of macro cells, could be usedinstead of small cells. As shown, UE 208 is a cell edge UE connected tocell 204. However, because it is in the cell edge, signal is not as goodfor UE 208 as it is for UE 207, and cell edge UE 208 may benefit fromICIC coordination with cell 203.

FIG. 3 is a system architecture diagram showing an interferencecoordination system, in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 3 shows acommunications flow between a macro cell, a coordinating node 302, and abase station 303. Macro cell 301 is also shown. X2 messages are used forexchanging information between the macro and the coordinating node, viaX2 gateway 302 b, and between the coordinating node and the small cellbase station via X2 gateway 302 b and X2AP/RRC module 303 b. Thesemessages may be private information element (IE) X2 messages, orstandard X2 messages. Two schedulers, scheduler 302 a on thecoordinating node and scheduler 303 d on the small cell base station,share information and provide decentralized scheduling of resources forUEs, while interoperating with the macro cell. ICIC scheduler 302 acommunicates ICIC control information to scheduler 303 a. SON-ANR module302 provides self-organizing network and automatic neighbor relations atmodule 302 c, and may coordinate with radio resource manager 303 c atthe base station. Modules 302 b, 302 a, and 302 c work in concert toprovide up to date scheduling information at node 302. Scheduler 303 aat the base station 303 may also include an ICIC media access control(MAC) scheduler module 303 d, which may be used to send schedulingmessages to UEs every TTI.

Details follow regarding design, architecture and message flow ofdynamic ICIC for interference coordination. In some embodiments, CWS mayrefer to a Parallel Wireless Converged Wireless System multi-RAT basestation; HNG may refer to a Parallel Wireless HetNet Gateway, which is acoordinating node between a radio access network and a core network thatperforms various additional functions; reporting period may be a timeperiod between two successive reporting messages from a CWS, such as aueIntfReportInd message; a scheduling period may be a time period atwhich successive messages are periodically sent from a HNG to a CWS,such as a lacSchDecisionReq message; an interference region may be aregion of a cell where UEs attach to the cell experience interferencefrom the same dominant interferer; CC UE may denote Cell Center UE; CEUE may denote Cell Edge UE; P1 may be a period of lacSchDecisionReqmessages or a scheduling period; P2 may be a scheduling periodicity atCWS MAC that is the same as a transport time interval (TTI) (1millisecond); RAT0 may denote Resource Allocation Type 0; TH1 may be aCell Edge determination threshold; and TH2 may be a neighbor reportingthreshold.

A specific example in accordance with some embodiments follows. Whilethe following example is provided with reference to LTE technology,other technologies such as 3G or 5G would be able to be modifiedaccordingly.

In some embodiments, the cell is divided into various InterferenceRegions based on the interference its UEs experience from its neighbors.UEs are Cell Center UEs by default. If the interference experienced by aUE exceeds threshold, TH1, then it is labeled a Cell Edge UE (CE UE).All CE UEs would experience interference from one or more neighborCWSes. Only the dominant neighbor is considered as interfering neighborto the UE for the purpose of identifying neighbors, in some embodiments.

Based on the dominant neighbor in periodic measurement reports receivedfrom all the UEs in period P1, the UEs are grouped into differentinterference groups, in some embodiments. All UEs having same dominantneighbor are said to belong to the same Interference Region.

Radio resource management (RRM) in CWS collates the UE measurementreports and sends the collated interference information of all CE UEs inM3 message to HNG. The HNG then groups the UEs into interference regionsbased on reported dominant interfere for each CE UE.

The CWS may also estimate and report the resource block (RB)requirements for each CE UE. This is reported by CWS for each CE UE toHNG as absolute number of RBs required by all established data bearers(DRBs) of the CE UE for next P1 period. The UE RB requirement estimationreports also go in M3 message to HNG.

HNG may use the reported RB requirements to assign resources to everyInterference Region, in some embodiments. These allocations divide theavailable RBs to a cell across Cell Center and each of cell edge Regionsthereby creating resource pools for each Interference Region. This iscalled cell resource partitioning. An example of simplified cellresource partitioning for two adjacent CWSes is shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of call edge and call center regionsacross two base stations, in accordance with some embodiments. CWS 1 hasa coverage pattern shown conceptually in usage map 401. CWS 2 has acoverage pattern shown conceptually in usage map 402. Regions arestacked to show that they occur in the same frequency.

Various regions are marked either as blocked or as interfering. Regions401 b for CWS 1 and 402 b for CWS 2 are in use by a macro cell that isin overlay configuration, so neither CWS 1 nor CWS 2 may use theseresource blocks/frequencies. CWS 1 is transmitting in region 401 c,marked as “blocked RBs.” CWS 2 is transmitting in region 402 d, markedas “Blocked RBs.” CWS 1 and CWS 2 share an interference region “CERegion 1,” 401 d for CWS 1 and 4012 c for CWS 2. These appear indifferent frequency bands because CWS 1's transmissions are notinterference for itself, e.g., they interfere only with CWS 2 and viceversa. “CE Region 2” in each of them is an interference region caused byinterference with other neighboring CWSes (separate neighbor for CWS 1and CWS 2) not shown in FIG. 4. CWS1 shows CE Region 2 as 401 e. CWS2shows CE Region 2 as 402 e. CWS 1 and CWS 2 may coordinate with acoordinating node, which has a view of both usage maps 401 and 402.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of four base stations, in accordance withsome embodiments. CWS A 504, CWS X 501, CWS Y 502 and CWS Z 503 areshown. CWS A is the serving CWS and CWS X, CWS Y and CWS Z are theinterferers. For UEs being served by CWS A, together they from threeInterference Regions in CWS A: Interference Region 1 (IR1), between CWSA & CWS X, identified as 501 a; Interference Region 2 (IR2), between CWSA & CWS Y and identified as 502 a; and Interference Region 3 (IR3),between CWS A & CWS Z and identified as 503 a. CWS X, CWS Y and CWS Zcould have other interference regions with other neighboring CWSes notshown in FIG. 5.

UEs served by CWS A in IR1 would see CWS X as the dominant interferer.Similarly, UEs connected to CWS A in IR2 and IR3 would see CWS Y and CWSZ respectively as dominant interferer. The resources allocated to CWS Ain IR1 (RA1) may be blocked in CWS X. Similarly resources allocated toCWS A in IR2 (RA2) and IR3 (RA3) may be blocked in CWS Y and CWS Zrespectively. RA1 can be used by CWS Y and CWS Z, RA2 can be used by CWSX and CWS Z and RA3 can be used by CWS X and CWS Y.

Resource recovery from CE Interference Regions. Since the UEs that canbe scheduled in a TTI are bounded by max scheduled UEs per TTI supportedby the solution we may find that in certain TTIs there are no UEsscheduled from certain CE Interference Regions. The resources allocatedto such unused CE Interference Regions would go waste in these TTIs.Same is also true for partially utilized resources of CE InterferenceRegions in a TTI. To avoid wastage of resources MAC scheduler may employthe following resource recovery mechanism, in some embodiments.

In a TTI CE UEs are allocated resources prior to CC UEs. The resourcesallocated to unused CE Interference Region pools are allocated to CCInterference Region pool of the cell for use by CC UEs. The unusedresources from partially used CE Interference Region pools are alsoallocated to CC Interference Region pool of the cell for use by CC UEs.This does not pose interference to neighbor cell CE UEs since theresources used by neighbor cell CE region UEs are not allocated by HNGfor use to any region in serving cell.

As a follow-up to ICIC Phase2, the resources allocated to neighbor cellCE Interference Regions may be used as low power transmission resourcesin serving cell. This may be achieved by appropriately modifying thesettings of pA in PDSCH-ConfigCommon & pB in PDSCH-ConfigDedicated forserving cell.

FIG. 6 is a further system architecture diagram showing an interferencecoordination system, in accordance with some embodiments. Diagram 600shows the block diagram, interfaces and message flow across various CWSmodules for dynamic ICIC scheme. Coordinator 650 is a coordinating nodeor HNG. Base station 660 is a base station or CWS. Coordinator 650includes HNG scheduler 601 a and X2AP module 601 b (for communicatingwith CWS as below). Base station (CWS) 660 includes an RRM module 604,an RRC module 602, and a MAC module 603. Base station 660 is providingaccess to UEs 605 a, 605 b, 605 c.

Base station 660 receives messages from coordinator 650's X2AP module601 b. These messages are received at RRC 602 by X2AP module 602 a, andpassed to RRM 604. RRC also includes encoding 602 d and decoding 602 cmodules, and ASN module 602 b. RRM 604 includes process report module604 a, and encoding module 604 b and decoding module 604 c. MAC 603includes TTI scheduling module 603 a.

Certain messages are used in some embodiments, as defined below.

M1 (611)—Periodic measurement reports from UEs (ueMeasReportInd). FromUE to CWS (RRC) and further in CWS from RRC to RRM. Contains interferingneighbors' identities and interference RSRP.

M2 (612)—UE resource requirement report (ueResourceReqInd). From MAC toRRM. Contains CE UE resource estimates.

M3 (613)—UE Interference Report (ueIntfReportInd). From CWS to HNG.Contains interfering neighbors' identities, interference level andresource requirement estimates for CE UEs.

M4 (614)—HNG scheduling decision message (lacSchDecisionReq). From HNGto CWS. Contains Interference Region list, UE ids within each region andresource allocation to each Interference Region (frequency resourcepartitioning).

M5 (615)—RRM MAC Scheduling decision message (rrmSchDecisionReq). FromRRM to MAC. Same content as M4.

Message sequence. The sequence of steps for execution of dynamic ICICscheme in some embodiments is described below.

Step 1—Periodic measurement reporting is configured for all UEs inserving cell.

Step 2—MAC computes and periodically sends CE UE resource requirementestimates to RRM in message M2 with periodicity P1.

Step 3—RRM receives, continuously: a. UE measurement reports from RRCwhich contain information about interfering neighbors experienced byeach UE and the interference level of each DL interferer in message M1;and b. CE UE resource requirement estimates from MAC in message M2.

Step 4—On arrival of M2 message from MAC, RRM creates the message M3 andsends it to RRC for further transmission to HNG.

Step 5—At RRC message M3 is ASN processed and sent to HNG through X2-AP.This is sent with same periodicity P1.

Step 6—UE reports from RRM are collated by HNG and HNG schedulingalgorithm is executed.

Step 7—HNG forms message M4 and sends it to CWS (RRC) for transmissionto RRM. This is sent with periodicity P1.

Step 8—Message M4 is ASN decoded by RRC and sent to RRM. This is sentwith periodicity P1.

Step 9—RRM communicates the resource partitioning information to MACthrough message M5. This is sent with periodicity P1.

Step 10—MAC uses this resource partitioning information communicated byRRM and carries out per TTI scheduling. Periodicity P2 (per TTI, 1 ms).

Various parameters may be configurable at the coordinating node,including, for example in some embodiments, a maximum number of celledge UEs, per TTI or per CE region per TTI; a periodicity ofueIntfReportInd reports or lacSchDecisionReq messages; a CE decisionthreshold TH1; a neighbor reporting threshold TH2; a neighbor RSRPquantization threshold (high, medium, low).

Other parameters may be configurable at the base station, such as theperiodicity of various messages or periodicity of ueResourceReqInd.

UE location determination

In some embodiments, two UE location variables are maintained for everyUE in its state data structure: ueLocation: determined and updated byRRM based on neighbor reports as explained in (3) below; for all UEsdetermined as CE UE based on this criteria CWS reports their resourcerequirements estimates to HNG; and ueIntfRegion: updated based onassignment of UE to one of Interference Regions by HNG inlacSchDecisionReq message, which is used to identify the resource poolfrom which to allocate the resources to this UE.

For the purpose of reporting resource estimates to HNG the UEs may beidentified as belonging to the cell center or the cell edge. The UElocation in (2) is computed (in CWS) and recorded in RRM andcommunicated to MAC. ueLocation of a UE is set to CE REGION if, in someembodiments, serving RSRP−Dominant Interferer RSRP<=TH1.

For the purpose of resource allocation, the UEs are allocated resourcesfrom the Interference Region to which they are assigned to (stored inueIntfRegion) by HNG in lacSchDecisionReq message, in some embodiments.

In some embodiments, if a UE is not assigned to any Interference Regionby HNG during a scheduling period, it may be allocated resources fromcell center resource pool for that scheduling period, immaterial ofactual location of UE as determined in (3) above.

On movement of UE from CC to CE region, during on-going HNG schedulingperiod ueLocation is assigned CE_REGION while ueIntfRegion continues tobe PW_CC_REGION region. After arrival of next lacSchDecisionReq messagethe ueIntfRegion is updated as described in (4) and (5) above, in someembodiments.

On movement of UE from CE to CC region, both ueLocation and ueIntfRegionare updated to CC_REGION and PW_CC_REGION respectively and take effectfrom next TTI execution, in some embodiments.

In some embodiments, a UEInterference report is prepared as follows: 1.Listing of all neighbors reported by CE UEs is populated intoueIntfReportInd message if—Serving_RSRP—Neighbor RSRP<=TH2; 2. all validneighbors are assumed to be already present in ANR table of CWS; 3.Neighbor identification details (PLMN_ID and CELL_ID) are picked fromANR table for populating into ueIntfReportInd message; 4. Neighborentries not present in ANR table are not reported by CWS; 5. Only UEswhich are determined to be CE UEs based on criteria in (1) have theirresource estimates reported to HNG in uelntfReportInd message.

UE Neighbor Determination

In some embodiments, periodic measurement reports from UEs are used todetermine interfering neighbors to UEs. The measurement reports from UEsare processed by RRM to determine an identity of interferingneighbor—PLMN_ID (MNC and MCC) and CELL_ID; and an interference levelexperienced by the reporting UE i.e. RSRP from interfering neighbor. RRMmay quantize the RSRP of interfering neighbor into following threelevels before reporting it to HNG—HIGH, MEDIUM, or LOW.

Resource Requirement Estimation for UEs

In some embodiments, both GBR and Non-GBR RB requirements may bereported for every CE UE. The reported RB requirement may be theabsolute number of RBs required by the UE (GBR and Non-GBR separately)for next scheduling period P1. The RB requirement is reportedconsidering only one Layer in use by UE. For GBR bearers the allocatedGBR bit rate (kbps) cumulatively for all GBR bearers may be used toreport the GBR-RB requirement for a UE. For Non-GBR bearers therequirement is assumed same as the amount of data UE expects to transmit(uplink)/receive (downlink) during a reporting period (P1). This meansthe average input bit rate at Layer2 (of UE for uplink and of CWS fordownlink) from network/application may define the resource requirementfrom UE.

Downlink Average Byte Requirement Estimation

In some embodiments, downlink may be treated the same as SDU arrival bitrate at PDCP. A running counter may be used to track the downlink queueload at RLC. Whenever a SDU is queued up at RLC downlink queues its datasize gets added up into the running counter, e.g., cumulative_dl_queueload_per_ue+=new_dl_data_size (in bytes) and duration_of_accumulation=N(in milliseconds), in some embodiments.

In some embodiments, to project the requirement for next N milliseconds(TTIs) the requirement may be calculated for last M windows of size Nmilliseconds each. The requirement for next N milliseconds may be arunning average of last M windows of duration N milliseconds each.

Uplink Average Byte Requirement Estimation

In some embodiments, for uplink BSR from UE may be used to calculate theaverage uplink bit rate available at UE. BSR denotes the instantaneousdata queue depth at UE. To calculate uplink average bit rate thefollowing procedure may be followed: 1. BSR reports from UE are tracked;2. Every new BSR will over write existing BSR; 3. Existing BSR will beupdated (decremented) with every UL allocation to UE; and 4. New UL dataarrived at UE will be calculated (as below) on the TTI when BSR isreceived from UE. An algorithm for this follows.

if(ul_grant_allocated_for_ue) existing_bsr −= ul_grant;  //reduceexisting_bsr by grant allocated if (bsr_arrived) new_bsr = arrived_bsr; //update new_bsr; else new_bsr = 0; if (new_bsr > existing_bsr)new_ul_data_size = new_bsr − existing_bsr; else new_ul_data_size = 0;cumulative_ul_queue_load_per_ue += new_ul_data_size; //bytesduration_of_accumulation = N; //milliseconds

Similar to downlink, to project the requirement for next N milliseconds(TTIs) the requirement may, in some embodiments, be calculated for lastM windows of size N milliseconds each. The requirement for next Nmilliseconds 8 be a running average of last M windows of duration Nmilliseconds each.

Byte Requirement to Resource Block Conversion

In some embodiments, this conversion may be done using existingmechanism available at MAC. One or more of following variables may beused to compute the RB requirement from absolute byte requirementcomputed above: CQI; absolute byte requirement; and Transmission Layersused by UE (may be assumed to be 1)

Initialization

In some embodiments, arrival of every lacSchDecisionReq request messagetriggers an initialization sequence. This means the initializationhappens periodically with the periodicity of lacSchDecisionReq messagearrival.

After the lacSchDecisionReq message is received the initializationfunctions populate the MAC data structures with new partitioning infofor RAT0 policy [3]. The RB allocation for each region is converted intoRBG allocation. To avoid overlaps between regions, the partiallyallocated RBG are dropped from allocation to the region.

The allocation bitmaps are created for each region, 1 CC and up to 6 CEregions. Finally CC region is allocated the bitmaps from all the CEregions as well.

Since MAC scheduler now allocates the resources for UEs from theinterference region pool they are assigned to, all the UEs who are notassociated to any interference region in this lacSchDecisionReq messagehave their interference regions reset to PW_CC_REGION so that they canget resources from CC interference resource pool. This is done byresetting the ueIntfRegion of all unassigned UEs to PW_CC_REGION regionas a part of this initialization sequence.

MAC Scheduler Resource Allocation Strategy

In some embodiments, the UEs are picked in accordance with round robinscheduling policy. Once a UE is picked it is allocated resources fromthe interference region pool to which it belongs based on its locatione.g. if the UE picked is a CC UE it 8 get allocation from CCinterference resource pool while if the UE picked is a CE UE it 8 getallocation from the CE interference resource pools to which it belongs.

In some embodiments, this strategy may follow the bounds of allocatingfollowing maximum limits in terms of UEs being scheduled: No more thanmaxUEperTTI 8 be scheduled in all in a TTI; and no more thanmaxUEsInaRegion 8 be scheduled from a region, in a TTI, while schedulingthe UEs.

In some embodiments, in case (2) the UE gets dropped and next UE in theround robin list gets scheduled in its place again following the twoconstrains (1) and (2). This dropped UE gets added to a priority queue.During next scheduling opportunity the UEs from this priority queue arepicked before processing the regular round robin queue.

MAC Scheduler Resource Allocation

In some embodiments, based on the RBG count allocated by strategy to aUE the allocator 8 pick the RBGs from the pool to which it belongs andremoves (resets) the allocated bits from its bitmask in sequentialorder, in some embodiments.

The periodic behavior of messages and execution at CWS is described withreference to FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing time periods in operation of ascheduling process, in accordance with some embodiments. The diagram maybe thought of as a vertically-oriented message flow diagram, wheremessages are passed to and from the coordinating node 701 to the basestation 704, with directionality shown as arrows. The message-passingperiods are broken up as follows, with the following meanings for thelegends in the diagram:

M3: ueIntfReportInd message from base station to coordinating node

M4: lacSchDecisionReq message from coordinating node to base station

P1: M3 periodicity currently same as M4 periodicity

Init: initialization sequence as described herein

Run: Per TTI execution of MAC scheduler using partitioning informationreceived in M4.

In operation, in some embodiments: 1. Base station reports message M3 tocoordinating node at periodicities of P1, tightly defined by TTIcounter. 2. During ongoing scheduling period, P1, coordinating node 701receives M3 from all base stations. It then executes the schedulingalgorithm and sends message M4 to all the base stations. This containsthe resource partitioning info for the base station. 3. On receiving M3,base station executes a resource initialization sequence with newlyreceived partitioning information. 4. This information is then used forper TTI scheduling at base station (MAC) until the arrival of next M4from the coordinating node.

A complete cycle involves, from the point of view of the coordinatingnode: receiving message M3 at the coordinating node; executing thescheduling algorithm; sending a message M4 to the base station;initialization sequence; and the base station executing MAC scheduling.From the point of view of the coordinating node 701 a, scheduling isperformed for a scheduling period P1 shown as 701 a and 701 b. From thepoint of view of the base station 704, its responsibility is reportingduring reporting period P1, shown as 702 a and 702 b, as well asscheduling based on messages received from the coordinating node.

Periodic Behaviour at CWS

Partitioning of cell resources is done independently for downlink anduplink cell resources, in some embodiments. This resource partitioninginformation is communicated by HNG to CWSes in message M4. Thispartitioning is valid on the CWS receiving it for every TTI for nextperiod P1 or until next M4 message is received. Thus this scheme doesresource allocation hierarchically across HNG and CWS with twoperiodicities P1 and P2 (TTI).

1. Resource distribution at periodicities of P1 is done by HNG. Thisdistributes each cell resources across different Interference Regions ofthe cell and is updated every P1 period.

2. Within P1 period the resources are distributed every TTI to the UEsfrom their respective Interference Region pools in a cell. This is doneby MAC scheduler on CWS and is carried out on TTI to TTI basis.

In some embodiments, an expiry period of partitioning informationreceived in last lacSchDecisionReq message can be used beyond which thelast partitioning received from coordinating node would not be valid onbase station. Computation and report of UE priority may be by basestation priority, or static UE priority. Static or dynamic ICICconfiguration on CWS may be controlled by configuration message fromcoordinating node.

The operation of the coordinating node scheduler is next described inrelation to some embodiments. An algorithm may be executed with thefollowing steps, as shown in relation to FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of frequency allocation, in accordance with someembodiments. At step 801, the coordinating node runs steps 802-207 onceevery configured period.

At step 802, for each base station, the coordinating node creates a datastructure for UL and DL, containing cell edge allocations per UE(reservations) and resources to avoid (restrictions).

At step 803, assuming a master-slave relationship with the macro, thecoordinating node adds the superset of macro restrictions to the“resources to avoid” list. Macro restrictions are conveyed through theHII and RNTP IEs of the X2 protocol Load Indication Message for UL andDL, respectively.

At step 804, the coordinating node creates an ordered list of basestations based on the criterion: # of Cell Edge UEs/# of Total UEs. Thebase station chosen first has an advantage in picking resources over thenext. Hence randomizing the selection of the first base station may beperformed in order to make the system fairer.

At step 805, the coordinating node picks the first unprocessed basestation from the list, and launches concurrent processes for independentclusters where clusters are defined as follows. If a base station ispicked, the collection of its neighbor and neighbor's neighborconstitutes a cluster. The definition of a cluster containing a basestation can be generally thought of as comprising all base stationswithin a specified geographic distance and/or within a specified RF pathloss of said base station. The algorithm can be run concurrently foreach cluster. However, at the boundary of a cluster, ensure that thealgorithm does not work on immediate neighbors at the same time. This isjust a matter of synchronization.

In other words, 805(i) create a master base station list and mark allbase stations incomplete; 805(ii) pick the first unprocessed basestation from a list and start a process, tracking the process in aprocess list; 805(iii) identify its neighbors in the cluster; 805(iv)for each of the neighbors in the cluster, identify its neighbors, in adepth-first search manner, and add them to the list; 805(v) start ascheduling process on the head of the queue unless one of its neighborsis currently being processed in the process list; 805(vi) return to (ii)and continue until all base stations have been processed, after which goback to (i).

At step 806, for the chosen base station, starting with the ordered list(ordered based on UE priority marked by the base station) of cell edgeUEs, allocate best fit DL frequency resources based on sub-band CQI andbest fit UL resources based on SRS SINR. Best fit resources must satisfythe GBR requirements of each UE. It is acceptable to over-allocateresources, since unused resources can be reused by the cell center UEs.Resource Allocation Types possible in LTE may also be taken into accountfor optimum usage or resources, as described in 3GPP TS 36.213. ResourceAllocation Types may also be used in conjunction with or to facilitatethe creation of interference zones. An interference zone is a set ofbase stations, to each of which the same set of restrictions should bepushed. The interference zone results in simplified processing andreduced signaling.

Additionally, during allocation, we need to take into accountrestrictions marked for chosen base station by the algorithm that mayhave run in neighbor cells. Restrictions are handled, in someembodiments, by mapping restriction level to a SINR dB penalty. In theDL channel, CQI is converted to equivalent SINR, the penalty is applied,and the parameter is reconverted to CQI. In the UL channel, the penaltyis applied directly to SRS SINR for the applicable sub-band.

In the base station's coordinating node interface message, the neighborsare also listed. The allocated resources are marked as restricted foreach neighbor's “resources to avoid” list.

Thus, in the chosen base station, resource allocations for cell edge UEsare marked and the corresponding resources are marked for avoidance inthe relevant neighbors. In other words, once a base station is pickedfor FFR scheduling, the coordinating node makes specific reservationsfor each cell edge UE in said base station and restrictions on usage ofresources in neighboring base stations such that the reservedallocations have only manageable interference power.

After this process is complete for the base station, the time forapplication of the decisions in SFN-SF (system frame number—selectedframe) may be indicated and passed to the base stations. This is tosynchronize the application of decisions across all base stations.

At step 807, the coordinating node repeats steps 805 and 806 until allbase stations are handled in each cluster. This whole-networkminimization analysis may be repeated approximately once per minute, orper configurable interval. Both most-recent and historical measurementreports may be integrated; in some embodiments, measurement reports maybe retained without ageing out of the analysis set.

Various refinements and variations of this scheme are also contemplated.For example, cell edge UEs may be identified by eNodeBs without the helpof the coordinating node, using the same method, in some embodiments. Insome embodiments, a minimum number of UEs may be required to startperforming the fractional frequency reuse (FFR) procedure. In someembodiments, 4 UEs per TTI may be required. In some embodiments, UEs maybe configured such that discontinuous reception (DRX) mode is enabledand configured to report, in connected mode, ECGI of interferingneighbors. In some embodiments, selective scheduling of DL or ULfrequencies may be enabled, which may be based on periodic UE-selectedsub-band CQI reporting.

In some embodiments, a downlink control indicator (DCI) downlink packetdata unit (DL PDU) transmission power offset may be set to enable softfrequency reuse (SFR). In some embodiments, sounding reference signal(SRS)-based SINR reporting may be used for frequency selectivescheduling.

In some embodiments, X2 resource status reporting initiation (RSRI)messages may be used to request the information described herein, andvarious X2 status reporting messages may be used, as described by 3GPPTS 36.423, hereby incorporated in its entirety, or other messages. Insome embodiments, additional X2 information elements (IEs) may be used,including private IEs. Handshaking may be used to establish X2communications between each communicating node, for example to identifya supported private X2 protocol version, in some embodiments.Verification of ASN (ITU-T Recommendation X.680, “InformationTechnology—Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1): Specification of basicnotation”; see also ISO/IEC 8824-1) encoding/decoding of private IE in a3rd party ASN encoder/decoder may also be enabled, in some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the same architecture could be used withinstallations that use the common public radio interface (CPRI) toseparate radio heads from their processing units at the base station.Individual base stations may have radio heads separated by a few metersor tens of meters from their baseband processing units, with the radiointerface connected to the baseband unit by fiber optic or copperEthernet connections according to the CPRI protocol and specification.No change is required in the disclosed systems or methods. As LTErequires processing to be performed within the 1 ms TTI budget, allprocesses described herein for the femto base station may be performedon a remote radio head (RRH) with a CPRI connection with <1 ms latency.Further, as the distributed scheduler described herein is broken up intotwo portions, the base station scheduler is allowed the benefit of aremote cloud scheduler with greater (i.e., ˜20 ms) latency withoutrequiring <1 ms latency for the cloud scheduler.

In some embodiments, a femto cell eNodeB may check whether the affectedUEs can be switched to a different radio access technology (RAT), suchas Wi-Fi. As Wi-Fi has different characteristics, the check may includedetermining whether the desired spectral band is available, and may alsoinclude determining whether the UE is within Wi-Fi range, which may beless than the range of the LTE protocol air interface. A soft handoffmay be performed between the LTE and Wi-Fi interfaces. Wi-Fi may be usedas a last resort in the case that interference is above a maximumpermitted threshold. Wi-Fi may also be used in the case that otherinterference mitigation attempts are not successful. A switch to Wi-Fimay be performed in connection with each of the below scenarios as well,in some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the femto cell eNodeB may check whether the victimUE can be switched to a different RAT, such as Wi-Fi.

In some embodiments, an X2 protocol-based coordination scheme may beused to coordinate between multiple cells and also between each cell andthe central scheduler.

In some embodiments, sniffing may be used to assess available uplinkresources. The sniffing base station may listen on a plurality of radiofrequencies to determine how each radio resource is used. For each radioresource, the sniffing base station may receive signals broadcast onthat resource, and may then calculate power spectral density for eachband. The calculation of power spectral density may be over a short timeperiod, such as over 1 TTI, or less than 1 TTI. The calculation of powerspectral density may be performed at a digital signal processor (DSP).In other embodiments, sniffing may be used to assess available downlinkresources.

In some embodiments, the transmit power for each UE may be dynamicallyadjusted based on one or more parameters, such as measured interference,signal strength of other base station nodes, or other parameters.Transmit power may be adjusted based on signals received at more thanone base station, including femto cell base stations and macro cell basestations, in some embodiments. Transmit power may be adjusted based oncommunications with a cloud coordination server, which may coordinateinterference and signal strength reports from multiple base stations, insome embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an enhanced eNodeB, in accordance withsome embodiments. Enhanced eNodeB 900 may include processor 902,processor memory 904 in communication with the processor, basebandprocessor 906, and baseband processor memory 908 in communication withthe baseband processor. Enhanced eNodeB 900 may also include first radiotransceiver 910 and second radio transceiver 912, each being able toprovide one carrier, such as a 3G or LTE FDD or TDD carrier, oralternatively Wi-Fi; internal universal serial bus (USB) port 916, andsubscriber information module card (SIM card) 918 coupled to USB port916. In some embodiments, the second radio transceiver 912 itself may becoupled to USB port 916, and communications from the baseband processormay be passed through USB port 916. Second radio transceiver 912 may bea backhaul UE modem used for providing backhaul connectivity to usersconnected to first radio transceiver 910.

Processor 902 and baseband processor 906 are in communication with oneanother. Processor 902 may perform routing functions, and may determineif/when a switch in network configuration is needed. Baseband processor906 may generate and receive radio signals for both radio transceivers910 and 912, based on instructions from processor 902. In someembodiments, processors 902 and 906 may be on the same physical logicboard. In other embodiments, they may be on separate logic boards.

Processor 902 may also be coupled to scheduler 930, which providesscheduling according to the present disclosure for the first radiotransceiver 910, or for the second radio transceiver 912 or both radiotransceivers. Scheduler 930 may be in communication with a remotescheduler, such as the coordinating node scheduler described in variousplaces herein. The remote scheduler is located in the network, forexample at a boundary between the core network and the radio accessnetwork, and therefore although an arrow is shown, connectivity to theremote scheduler may be provided via the backhaul connection, such asvia second radio transceiver 912.

The first radio transceiver 910 may be a radio transceiver capable ofproviding LTE eNodeB functionality, and may be capable of higher powerand multi-channel OFDMA. The second radio transceiver 912 may be a radiotransceiver capable of providing LTE UE functionality. Transceivers 910and 912 may be capable of receiving and transmitting on one or more LTEbands. In some embodiments, either or both of transceivers 910 and 912may be capable of providing both LTE eNodeB and LTE UE functionality.Transceiver 910 may be coupled to processor 902 via a PeripheralComponent Interconnect-Express (PCI-E) bus, and/or via a daughtercard.As transceiver 912 is for providing LTE UE functionality, in effectemulating a user equipment, it may be connected via the same ordifferent PCI-E bus, or by a USB bus, and may also be coupled to SIMcard 918.

SIM card 918 may provide information required for authenticating thesimulated UE to the evolved packet core (EPC). When no access to anoperator EPC is available, local EPC 920 may be used, or another localEPC on the network may be used. This information may be stored withinthe SIM card, and may include one or more of an international mobileequipment identity (IMEI), international mobile subscriber identity(IMSI), or other parameter needed to identify a UE. Special parametersmay also be stored in the SIM card or provided by the processor duringprocessing to identify to a target eNodeB that device 900 is not anordinary UE but instead is a special UE for providing backhaul to device900.

Wired backhaul or wireless backhaul may be used. Wired backhaul may bean Ethernet-based backhaul (including Gigabit Ethernet), or afiber-optic backhaul connection, or a cable-based backhaul connection,in some embodiments. Additionally, wireless backhaul may be provided inaddition to wireless transceivers 910 and 912, which may be Wi-Fi802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad/ah, Bluetooth, ZigBee, microwave (includingline-of-sight microwave), or another wireless backhaul connection. Anyof the wired and wireless connections may be used for either access orbackhaul, according to identified network conditions and needs, and maybe under the control of processor 902 for reconfiguration.

Other elements and/or modules may also be included, such as a homeeNodeB, a local gateway (LGW), a signaling reduction module, or anothermodule. Additional radio amplifiers, radio transceivers and/or wirednetwork connections may also be included. A wired network connection,such as optical fiber or Ethernet, may provide backhaul to the corenetwork, in some embodiments.

Processor 902 may identify the appropriate network configuration, andmay perform routing of packets from one network interface to anotheraccordingly. Processor 902 may use memory 904, in particular to store arouting table to be used for routing packets. Baseband processor 906 mayperform operations to generate the radio frequency signals fortransmission or retransmission by both transceivers 910 and 912.Baseband processor 906 may also perform operations to decode signalsreceived by transceivers 910 and 912. Baseband processor 906 may usememory 908 to perform these tasks.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a coordinating node, in accordancewith some embodiments. Signaling concentrator 1000 includes processor1002 and memory 1004, which are configured to provide the functionsdescribed herein. Also present are radio access networkcoordination/SON/scheduling module 1006, which performs the schedulingand scheduling coordination described herein, RAN proxying module 1008,and routing virtualization module 1010. In some embodiments,concentrator server 1000 may coordinate multiple RANs using coordinationmodule 1006. In some embodiments, coordination server may also provideproxying, routing virtualization and RAN virtualization, via modules1010 and 1008. In some embodiments, a downstream network interface 1012is provided for interfacing with the RANs, which may be a radiointerface (e.g., LTE), and an upstream network interface 1014 isprovided for interfacing with the core network, which may be either aradio interface (e.g., LTE) or a wired interface (e.g., Ethernet).Signaling storm reduction functions may be performed in module 1006.

Coordinating node 1000 may include local evolved packet core (EPC)module 1020, for authenticating users, storing and caching priorityprofile information, and performing other EPC-dependent functions whenno backhaul link is available. Local EPC 1020 may include local HSS1022, local MME 1024, local SGW 1026, and local PGW 1028, as well asother modules. Local EPC 1020 may incorporate these modules as softwaremodules, processes, or containers. Local EPC 1020 may alternativelyincorporate these modules as a small number of monolithic softwareprocesses. Modules 1006, 1008, 1010 and local EPC 1020 may each run onprocessor 1002 or on another processor, or may be located within anotherdevice.

In some embodiments, the radio transceivers described herein may be basestations compatible with a Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio transmissionprotocol or air interface. The LTE-compatible base stations may beeNodeBs. In addition to supporting the LTE protocol, the base stationsmay also support other air interfaces, such as UMTS/HSPA, CDMA/CDMA2000,GSM/EDGE, GPRS, EVDO, other 3G/2G, legacy TDD, or other air interfacesused for mobile telephony. In some embodiments, the base stationsdescribed herein may support Wi-Fi air interfaces, which may include oneor more of IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac. In some embodiments, the base stationsdescribed herein may support IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), to LTE transmissionsin unlicensed frequency bands (e.g., LTE-U, Licensed Access or LA-LTE),to LTE transmissions using dynamic spectrum access (DSA), to radiotransceivers for ZigBee, Bluetooth, or other radio frequency protocols,TV whitespace (TVWS), or other air interfaces. In some embodiments, thebase stations described herein may use programmable frequency filters.In some embodiments, the base stations described herein may provideaccess to land mobile radio (LMR)-associated radio frequency bands. Insome embodiments, the base stations described herein may also supportmore than one of the above radio frequency protocols, and may alsosupport transmit power adjustments for some or all of the radiofrequency protocols supported. The embodiments disclosed herein can beused with a variety of protocols so long as there are contiguousfrequency bands/channels. Although the method described assumes asingle-in, single-output (SISO) system, the techniques described canalso be extended to multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) systems. WhereverIMSI or IMEI are mentioned, other hardware, software, user or groupidentifiers, can be used in conjunction with the techniques describedherein.

The following documents are also incorporated by reference in theirentirety for all purposes: 3GPP TS 36.331, version 10.7.0, “RadioResource Control (RRC); Protocol specification”; 3GPP TS 36.331, version8.21.0, “Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification”; 3GPP TS36.314, version 9.1.0, “Layer 2—Measurements”; 3GPP TS 36.214, version10.1.0, “Physical Layer; Measurements”; 3GPP TS 23.203, version 10.4.0,“Policy and charging control architecture”; 3GPP TS 37.803-b10, version11.1.0, “Mobility enhancements for Home Node B and Home enhanced NodeB”; 3GPP TS 36.423, version 10.1.0, “X2 Application Protocol (X2AP)”;3GPP TS 36.600, “E-UTRA and E-UTRAN; Overall Description”; 3GPP TS36.213, “Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physicallayer procedures,” version 10.13.0, and 3GPPRel-10_description_20140630.

The foregoing discussion discloses and describes merely exemplaryembodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, softwarethat, when executed, causes a device to perform the methods describedherein may be stored on a computer-readable medium such as a computermemory storage device, a hard disk, a flash drive, an optical disc, orthe like. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the presentinvention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing fromthe spirit or essential characteristics thereof. For example, wirelessnetwork topology can also apply to wired networks, optical networks, andthe like. The methods may apply to LTE-compatible networks, toUMTS-compatible networks, to Wi-Fi networks, networks in an unlicensedband, including 3GPP networks (LTE-U/LTE-AA), or to networks foradditional protocols that utilize radio frequency data transmission.Various components in the devices described herein may be added,removed, or substituted with those having the same or similarfunctionality. Various steps as described in the figures andspecification may be added or removed from the processes describedherein, and the steps described may be performed in an alternativeorder, consistent with the spirit of the invention. Features of oneembodiment may be used in another embodiment. Accordingly, thedisclosure of the present invention is intended to be illustrative of,but not limiting of, the scope of the invention.

Those of skill in the art will also recognize that hardware may embodysoftware, software may be stored in hardware as firmware, and variousmodules and/or functions may be performed or provided either as hardwareor software depending on the specific needs of a particular embodiment.

Although the scenarios for interference mitigation are described inrelation to macro cells and femto cells, the same techniques could beused for reducing interference between any two cells, in which only oneof the two cells is required to perform the interference mitigationmethods described herein. The applicability of the above techniques toone-sided deployments makes them particularly suitable for heterogeneousnetworks, including heterogeneous mesh networks, in which all networknodes are not identically provisioned.

In any of the scenarios described herein, where processing may beperformed at the femto cell, the processing may also be performed incoordination with a cloud coordination server. The femto cell eNodeB maybe in communication with the cloud coordination server via an X2protocol connection, or another connection. The femto cell eNodeB mayperform inter- cell coordination via the cloud communication server,when other cells are in communication with the cloud coordinationserver. The femto cell eNodeB may communicate with the cloudcoordination server to determine whether the UE has the ability tosupport a handover to Wi-Fi.

Although the methods above are described as separate embodiments, one ofskill in the art would understand that it would be possible anddesirable to combine several of the above methods into a singleembodiment, or to combine disparate methods into a single embodiment.For example, all of the above methods could be combined. In thescenarios where multiple embodiments are described, the methods could becombined in sequential order, in various orders as necessary.

Although the above systems and methods for providing interferencemitigation are described in reference to the Long Term Evolution (LTE)standard, and in particular LTE Release 9, one of skill in the art wouldunderstand that these systems and methods could be adapted for use withother wireless standards or versions thereof, such as: UMTS; CDMA; EDGE;GSM; LTE-A; other 2G, 3G, or 4G standards; or any future wirelessstandards, including 5G standards.

In some embodiments, the software needed for implementing the methodsand procedures described herein may be implemented in a high levelprocedural or an object-oriented language such as C, C++, C#, Python,Java, or Perl. The software may also be implemented in assembly languageif desired. Packet processing implemented in a network device caninclude any processing determined by the context. For example, packetprocessing may involve high-level data link control (HDLC) framing,header compression, and/or encryption. In certain embodiments, thesoftware is stored on a storage medium or device such as read-onlymemory (ROM), programmable-read-only memory (PROM), electricallyerasable programmable-read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, or amagnetic disk that is readable by a general or specialpurpose-processing unit to perform the processes described in thisdocument. The processors can include any microprocessor (single ormultiple core), system on chip (SoC), microcontroller, digital signalprocessor (DSP), graphics processing unit (GPU), or any other integratedcircuit capable of processing instructions such as an x86microprocessor.

Various components in the devices described herein may be added,removed, or substituted with those having the same or similarfunctionality. Various steps as described in the figures andspecification may be added or removed from the processes describedherein, and the steps described may be performed in an alternativeorder, consistent with the spirit of the invention. Features of oneembodiment may be used in another embodiment. Other embodiments arewithin the following claims.

Although the present disclosure has been described and illustrated inthe foregoing example embodiments, it is understood that the presentdisclosure has been made only by way of example, and that numerouschanges in the details of implementation of the disclosure may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

1. A system, comprising: a coordinating node situated between a radioaccess network and a core network; and a first base station in the radioaccess network in communication with the coordinating node, wherein: thecoordinating node has a coordinating scheduler with a first schedulingperiod; the first base station has a first base station scheduler with asecond scheduling period shorter than the first scheduling period; thecoordinating scheduler is configured to send a resource reservation listand a resource restriction list to the first base station scheduler onceduring each first scheduling period; and the first base station isconfigured to receive the resource reservation list and the resourcerestriction list and to use the resource reservation list and theresource restriction list when performing mobile device resourcescheduling.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource reservationlist and the resource restriction list are each bitmaps of one byte perphysical resource block (PRB), or wherein the resource restriction listis a set of values indicating an interference level for each of a set ofPRB s.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the coordinating node isconfigured to maintain an interference zone comprising a set of basestations, and wherein the resource restriction list is pushed to eachbase station in the interference zone.
 4. The system of claim 1, whereinthe coordinating node is configured to assess interference based onreceived measurement reports from mobile devices.
 5. The system of claim1, wherein the coordinating scheduler and the first base stationscheduler are configured to exchange scheduling information for UEsdeemed to be cell edge UEs, based on one or more values of referencesignal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ),cell quality indicator (CQI), and signal to noise ratio (SINR).
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the first scheduling period is between 5 and30 milliseconds and the second scheduling period is 1 millisecond. 7.The system of claim 1, wherein the coordinating node is in communicationwith a macro cell regarding resource allocation and scheduling over anX2 interface.
 8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a second basestation in the radio access network in communication with thecoordinating node and having a scheduler.
 9. The system of claim 1,wherein the first and second base stations are Long Term Evolution (LTE)eNodeBs, and wherein the coordinating node has an X2 interfaceconnection to the first and second base stations for performingcoordination between schedulers.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein thefirst base station sends a resource reservation to the coordinating nodebased on coordination activity performed with the second base station.11. The system of claim 1, wherein the coordinating scheduler isconfigured to: receive a resource reservation request from the firstbase station; add a corresponding resource reservation to the resourcereservation list; and add a corresponding resource restriction to asecond resource restriction list to be sent to the second base station.12. The system of claim 1, wherein the coordinating scheduler isconfigured to send a reduce transmit power instruction to the secondbase station based on the resource reservation list.
 13. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the first base station scheduler is configured to avoiduse of resources identified in the resource restriction list.
 14. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the first and second base stations aremulti-radio access technology (multi-RAT) base stations having two ormore of the following radio access capabilities: 2G; 3G; LTE; and Wi-Fi.15. A method, comprising: creating a reservation for a resource enablinguse of the resource at a first base station for a set of mobile devices;and requiring creation of a paired restriction for the resourcedisabling use of the resource at a second base station, the second basestation being a neighbor of the first base station, thereby enabling thesecond base station to avoid interfering with use of the reservedresource by the first base station.
 16. The method of claim 15, whereincreating a reservation and requiring creation of a paired restrictionoccurs at a coordinating node.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein theresource is a physical radio resource or a scheduling slot.
 18. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the resource is either a 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5Gradio carrier resource.
 19. The method of claim 15, wherein the pairedrestriction is a limit on the radio frequency (RF) power that istransmitted on a physical radio resource or in a scheduling slot. 20.The method of claim 15, wherein the coordinating node is a radio networkcontrolling node situated in communication with a radio access networkand with a core network.
 21. The method of claim 15, wherein thecoordinating node is a radio network controlling node providingvirtualization of radio access network nodes.
 22. The method of claim15, wherein the first and second base stations are Long Term Evolution(LTE) eNodeBs and the set of mobile devices is either a set of universalmobile telecommunications service (UMTS) user equipments (UEs) or a setof LTE UEs.